[Stone Hartman]

I like to research different publications on all sides of the issues. There are so many ways in which the public looks at the whole marijuana landscape. Some of this information is right on. And some of it is way off. But it's good to know what they're saying regardless. Because knowledge is power.

Here's a cut and paste of an interesting perspective I found that pretty much states what I have felt for a long time now. The very last line asks a very important question. The answer ?? Anyone ?? Bueller ??

***
Hypocritical Foolishness by Joseph D. McNamara

Joseph D. McNamara, a retired deputy inspector of the New York Police Department and former police chief of San Jose, Calif., is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University.

I never smoked a cigarette in my life, let alone a reefer. It’s not that I was a puritan. Like the overwhelming majority of my fellow cops, I thought it manly and cool to consume my share of beer and booze.

But as a veteran of more than 30 years in law enforcement, I always thought it hypocritical foolishness to bust 700,000 to 800,000 Americans a year for pot, and especially ridiculous to get excited about sick people smoking marijuana because they believed accurately or mistakenly, that it helped ease their pain.

I’m not inclined to enter the endless debates between crusading zealots against marijuana and those who cite contrary evidence that marijuana is a relatively harmless drug. I am convinced, however, that if you must be a heavy drug user, you’re far better off smoking pot than, say, playing the dangerous, insane drinking games common among our high school and college kids, and excessive alcohol consumption by older heavy boozers.

In my mind, the question should focus on the societal costs of arresting someone for using certain substances we disapprove of, and consequently giving them a criminal record that can damage their lives and turn them into career criminals. If Misters Clinton, Bush, or Obama, and countless other successful people had been busted for their youthful flirtation with drugs most would have been stigmatized and suffered irreparable career harm. The learning moment here is that there is a terrible human cost to arresting someone, which must be balanced against the harm it supposedly prevents.

Additional costs of the violence, corruption, and other crimes associated with prohibition never seem to be included in estimated costs of drug war policies. For example, the use of scarce police, court, and correctional resources, and the disproportional mischief that aggressive arrest tactics impose on minorities tilt the already out of balance price tag for our irrational policy of unnecessarily criminalizing widespread conduct. Why is a free society so terrified of trusting adults to make responsible decisions?

***

[Memory Man]

I agree!

[Luther]

Great article and I wish that more police officers had a simliar view on the so-called "war on drugs"

[Nyeacidbrain]

One chill cop out of.......

[contract.dude]

good post

thanks for posting it

[cephas]

I have asked that question many times, yet to get an answer.

Great story, thanks for posting.

[Col. Kif]

Great Post

[pokealotasmot]

Wish all LEOS were as level headed as this one.

[innerlight]

Why is a free society so terrified of trusting adults to make responsible decisions?

I believe it to be the stigma associated with weed. Most got there first glimpse of it during the sixties with the hippies. They saw long hair, "boho" clothing, mostly jobless & getting busted, soldiers coming home from Nam with some GREAT smoke & passing it out to their friends like candy. However the tide is turning. Us "baby boomers" are the ones who started this & the generations that are following have a different mind set....thus the 44% of Americans that favor legalization & consistently climbing!! To bad it's taken 40 some odd years to get to this point.

[~Chronic420~]

Great post! Nice to see how a NPS or Non Pot Smoker feels about it. :)